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3D Pavement Art

25 July 2008 ~ 5410 Views


Julian Beever
Chalk artist who has been creating trompe-l’œil chalk drawings on pavement surfaces since the mid-1990s. His works are created using a projection called anamorphosis, and create the illusion of three dimensions when viewed from the correct angle.

Kurt Wenner
Kurt Wenner is a Master Artist and Master Architect famous for inventing three-dimensional pastel drawings. Also known as: 3D Street Painting, 3D Pavement Art, 3D Chalk Art, or 3D Sidewalk Art, they are a form of anamorphic art. Anamorphism is usually considered a form of Illusion or Trompe loeil, but is really the logical mathematical continuation of Perspective.

Once known as Madonnari, Street Painters, Pavement artists, Chalk Artists, and Sidewalk Artists have designed impermanent or Ephemeral Art for centuries. Currently, Kurt Wenner is writing a Street Painting History, explaining how sidewalk art and pavement art transformed itself into a spectacular medium, popular in Advertising, Publicity and numerous Street Painting Festivals.

Masterpieces in Chalk was the National Geographic documentary that established 3D Street Painting as a new art form, but only after 15 years could other artists (with the aid of computer programs) replicate the illusions. Today, artists like Julian Beever, Manfred Stader, Edgar Muller and numerous artists create 3 Dimensional Pastel Drawings, sometimes original and often emulating Kurt Wenner early works.

In fact, 3D Pavement Artists, 3D Sidewalk Artists, and 3D Chalk artists can all trace the roots of their work back to the street art of Rome in 1982, where Kurt Wenner transformed the complex geometry of Classical Italian Architecture into a new form of Popular Art. Whether they are called Street Paintings, Chalk Paintings. Sidewalk Paintings or pavement art, if they have a three-dimensional illusion they can be traced back to Kurt Wenner pastel drawings.

Links to more great pavement art:
Kurt Wenner
European Street Painting

About Jo


I'm the owner of Jo's Web, a professionally qualified graphic designer who has been involved in the industry for over 20 years. I have worked as an art editor for London publishing houses, B.B.C , Haymarket and now run Spiral Pixel Design.

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